Modern databases and storage area networks feature an array of distributed, but centrally-managed/accessed components cooperating to store vast amounts of data available to client applications connected to the network. A typical distributed database system features a master-slave architecture where the master serves as directory informing client applications which slave to query for the requested information. The master also coordinates operation of the slave databases. Other distributed database approaches feature gateway architectures where the data is distributed across numerous file systems, but the gateway, relative to the client applications, approximates a single monolithic database. To address capacity and reliability issues, these large centrally-managed database architectures require complex software and expensive hardware, and often require experienced personnel dedicated to management of the database system. Reliability and capacity are also addressed by hosting the database applications on extremely expensive, robust hardware systems, such as mainframes, that include multiple processor architectures and reliable construction.
While the foregoing database systems fulfill their respective objectives, a need exists in the art for less expensive alternatives while nevertheless achieving the high availability and reliability of prior art database systems. Certain embodiments of the present invention substantially fulfill this need.